There have been insects of various sizes over time, the largest I believe were giant underwater scorpions. These six-legged scorpions, called Hibbertopterus, allegedly measured 1.5 meters in length and 1 meter in width, and the tracks covered an area of approximately 6 meters. The problem that insects have, and the blessing we benefit from is that they depend on their shells which become to heavy the larger they get. also, because oxygen levels are lower now a days, their respiration method limits their size. This said there still are some large critters out their, but most are smaller then they were other millennium.

> > Cabbie: 'Frank Feldman.. He's a guy who did everything right all the> > time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to> > Frank Feldman every single time.'

Passenger: 'There are always a few clouds over everybody.'

Cabbie: 'Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won> > the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an> > opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him> > play the piano. He was an amazing guy.'

> > Passenger: 'Sounds like he was something really special.'

Cabbie: 'There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered> > everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which> > fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse,> > and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, could do everything> > right.'> >> > Passenger: 'Wow, some guy then.'> >

> > Cabbie: 'He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid> > traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he> > never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her> > feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and> > his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the> > perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank> > Feldman.'

Passenger: 'An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?'

Cabbie: 'Well... I never actually met Frank. He died, and I married his> > wife.

Back to giant insects, I remember fuzzily an Edgar Rice Burroughs' comic book in which the hero (Tarzan?) and Dr. McWhorter confront giant spiders. And who could forget "Them!" the "big bug" 50's science fiction/horror film in which James Arness battles giant ants. (Remember, everything was bigger and better in the past, just like Frank Feldman)

But there are good physical reasons why insects do not reach gargantuan ("behemothic"?) proportions. First, the volume and therefore the mass of insects increases as the cube, while a crossection of its supporting legs, a circle, increases as the square. After a while an insect's increasing mass becomes too heavy for its legs to support. Also an insect's mass is supported by an exoskeleton which correspons to its surface area. The ratio of an insect's surface area (square) to its mass/volume (cube) becomes another limiting factor. Giant sea scorpions more than eight feet in length-- the largest arthropods which ever existed-- were subject to the same limitations. Water helped support their weight. Finally (as if that weren't enough) the giant insects lived in an oxygen-rich atmosphere which does not exist today.

Well that is good to know.(And thanks for the Frank Feldman reference.)

And I think the same is true of people sprouting wings.We could never support our weight on them things.Our breast bones, the sternum in particular, would break.And I suppose there are other factors as well, but notknowing all that much about things like huge bugsand breast bones, I am really not sure.